Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Is Finally Fixing Its Biggest Mistake

There is hardly any doubt that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is one of the most demanding games out there because players just need to dedicate a ridiculous amount of time to it. Sure, if a game is interesting, there is absolutely nothing wrong with spending even hundreds of hours playing it. However, when you realize that your hard-earned progress could become useless in the blink of an eye if you decide to start the adventure all over again, things suddenly start looking a lot different. Unfortunately, this is a problem that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has had for years now.

In any case, it seems like Ubisoft is finally ready to do something about it, because on October 29, 2026, the studio announced that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla would receive New Game+ on November 5, 2026, three years after its previously final update. The new mode includes dedicated difficulty scaling, additional equipment upgrades, and progression adjustments, which is certainly exciting considering how long players have been waiting for this feature. However, it is also worth considering whether New Game+ is enough to convince people to spend another hundred hours on an adventure they have already completed.

Ubisoft Is Finally Reconsidering Its Decision to Leave New Game+ Out of Valhalla

Previously, Ubisoft had made it pretty clear that the New Game+ feature isn’t coming. Back in November 2022, the studio officially announced that it had decided against introducing the mode to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. According to the developers, the game was way too complex to create a replay experience that players would consider rewarding enough. Yes, nobody ever said it was impossible, but the truth is that it seems like no one really believed it was possible either. Now that the company is revisiting this idea, it’s easy to wonder whether the developers even tried to find a solution to this problem all these years ago when people were begging to be able to experience Eivor’s adventure again without sacrificing everything they’ve worked for.

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At least now that the New Game+ will become available, players will be able to put their hard-earned equipment to good use without repeating everything from the start. Of course, that is if they are willing to replay the game one last time to take advantage of the change. To be fair, not everyone would be willing to do so, considering how much time players have to invest. This is also the reason why it was so important for the developers to try to add New Game+ years ago. However, the feature has benefits beyond keeping one’s equipment, which is already a big deal because players will be able to experiment with the way they approach enemy encounters, for example.

Ubisoft also introduces dedicated difficulty scaling, which prevents the early stages of the adventure from becoming too easy for those with enough experience. Moreover, the studio is expanding some of Assassin’s Creed’s progression systems. For instance, players will now be able to collect Mithril, which is a resource that can be used to strengthen runes and upgrade Divine Gear. The latter is a quality that will be available for all items, which is certainly a welcome change for those who are always happy to experiment with their equipment.

In other words, if a player likes a weapon, they will be able to upgrade it and keep using it, instead of having to switch it for another with better stats. There is also the optional progression mode that allows Runes, Gear, and Masteries to contribute to Eivor’s overall Power, which means that progression will not depend so heavily on earning XP and investing Skill Points in the skill tree. It’s also important to mention that there will be new runes, achievements, and rewards, including the Master Assassin outfit inspired by Naoe’s appearance in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. It has been mentioned that there will be a new stash system as well, although not many details have been revealed yet.

Valhalla’s New Game+ Arrives Late, but Ubisoft Is Giving Players Reasons to Return

In any case, it seems like Ubisoft is putting quite the effort into encouraging people to replay the game and take advantage of the New Game+ feature, despite the fact that this will require them to invest another hundred hours into a game they have already completed. This leads us to the conclusion that the studio may actually be very much aware of the difficulties created by the lack of New Game+ until this point. After all, giving players new things to unlock and additional progression options is actually a pretty good way to attract returning players because they will have new things to do even though they have played the game before.

Last but not least, Ubisoft has encouraged players to share their feedback about the update and explained that this would be very helpful to them in the future when it comes to introducing similar features to other games in the franchise. Of course, there is no guarantee that New Game+ will become a standard feature for every title, but it is definitely not a bad idea, especially for those games that require hundreds of hours to complete.

Released

November 10, 2020

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol